Hotels, convention centers, office buildings, large restaurants, and similar buildings often have large areas of carpet which must be frequently cleaned. The carpet may be dry vacuumed daily and more thoroughly cleaned as needed or on a regular schedule. Industrial grade carpet cleaners typically included a self propelled chassis which carries a cleaning solution reservoir, a pump driven sprayer for spraying cleaning solution onto the carpet, a motor driven brush for beating the wet carpet and a vacuum extractor and recovery tank for removing and collecting liquid and dirt from the carpet.
Although existing industrial grade carpet cleaners are effective at cleaning, they are sometimes awkward to use because of their size and may be difficult to maintain. The carpet cleaner should be designed as a compact, easy to maneuver machine which will not cause damage when cleaning next to furniture and walls. During use, the spray nozzles sometimes become clogged with dirt and dried cleaning solution. Access to the nozzles for cleaning has often been difficult. Further, a vacuum shoe which extracts fluid and dirt from the carpet should be easily removed for cleaning.
Similar floor cleaning apparatus is often used by institutions for cleaning tile floors and the tile grout.